How To Use Quora For Your Small Business
Quora, a question and answer platform, is a great resource for small businesses to share expertise and learn from experts. Here are some great tips on how your small business can leverage quora by contributing to this dynamic community.
When Reddit is just too much for you, with their special etiquette and sink-hole of content. Or LinkedIn feels too stuffy, Instagram is too superficial and we ain’t even going to touch Tumblr. Where should you look? Sure, Facebook is a solid platform for small business and Twitter has its plusses. One place of causal, straightforward, mostly professional information is Quora.
Quora sprouted from people wanting answers in a social setting. This format has brought together wide variance of communities without creating clear subcultures within the platform. It was another evolution of online forums. No question is too technical or silly for this super answer site. But is there room to benefit on this site as a business without total judgment? Well yes, and we are going to show you how.
What Is Quora?
Ok, you should know how quora functions to get the most out of it, so let’s start there. It is a place for information, traffic, and networking. There is not a lot of visual content or personal flair. You build your profile, share your title, summary, and some credentials. Show your skills and include interesting notes about yourself. Your activity is also displayed, including how many of your answers were viewed, questions you answered, questions posted, followers etc.
Don’t get Quora confused with Reddit, but there are Upvotes, Downvotes, and Commenting. However, in Quora, you don’t really have to be sensitive to sub-categories and in-jokes. Know the interests of your audience, and begin exploring what kinds of questions they ask. Then you can share your knowledge and pose questions of your own that will provide valuable insight.The biggest key to the platform is to create a buzz around a question or answer. This then can drive traffic towards you and eventually your business.
On Quora, you’re not answering questions because you want to get points or because you have nothing else to do.
Quora Is About Thought Leadership
If you believe your skills are up to snuff and your business is in such a position that you can begin establishing yourself as a thought leader, then Quora is a fantastic place to do so. This platform is straightforward — people want their answers! No silly side convos or banter. Your answer should be clear, with enough detail and very little fluff. Think of Quora answers to be like a mini blog. A short piece filled with engaging, easy to read, helpful information.
On that note, feel free to link to articles from your own blog as well. If you feel they are helpful to the answer, that is and further showing your knowledge. Summarize the salient points and don’t merely answer with a link to your blog. Your blog should be supportive of your quora answer. You should also use linkable stats and external resources, to add on to your answer. It may sound like a lot of work, but if you are a thought leader on the topic this should be a walk in the park.
The number one thing you should never do… Don’t talk AT those commenting and asking questions. Show the community them your work, while leaving the ego and sales somewhere else. Informative, clear and well-written answers are the most shared and liked.
Integration & Idea Generation
As you answer questions and explore the conversations you’ll notice that Quora is a nest of ideas. You will find strengths that shine, issues to address and trends to get ahead of. Quora is a platform where you can find quite a few journalist on too. This is also an indication of how Quora can be a place of idea generation.
If you want these ideas lead to you and your small business then make sure that Quora is integrated into your external sites. Include the Quora follow button on your website so people can know what you are discussing and the voice you have. Encourage customers to ask you questions on Quora so you can highlight your expertise!
It is not something a lot of business do. As a business, you’d have to be active and some businesses are wary of transparency. This is an opportunity to show the ideas that drive your business. The same goes for social accounts like Facebook and Twitter. Link the places together to keep everyone on the same topic as well as helping with search engine indexing. Recently has Google allows for Quora Q&A’s to be shown in search results.
Quick Tips For Small Businesses Using Quora
1. Use images in your answers
Or at least whenever possible. While images are not required it does help with making your answers stand out.
2. Show your personality and personability
Don’t become a service drone nor expectation of what you can get from the platform. More so a place of expression, and if it’s truly your thoughts have some personality with your writing.
3. Respond ASAP
Be a first responder. The early movers often get the most upvotes, which moves your answer higher up, leading to more views.
4. Tag other experts
You can tag other Quora users with the @ symbol to have them join the conversation and help you out. So keep good relationships with partner companies. Also, linking to other related answers by experts can help build your network.
5. Build connections on Quora
Don’t underestimate quora as a place to find partners, employees or great sources of information.
We have technology, finally, that for the first time in human history allows people to really maintain rich connections with much larger numbers of people.
Get Great Exposure For Your Small Business With Quora
Quora is a rather simple social platform that is focused on providing answers. By taking the time to answering questions you have a potential to lead thought, create ideas and show more personality of your business. There are no stupid questions. Connect yourself by being a helpful source.
